The impact of the winter disaster was exacerbated by ‘under investment in key infrastructure’, said Spelthorne MP Kwasi Kwarteng during a parliamentary debate on the floods in Spelthorne.

Mr Kwarteng was speaking at a debate he secured on the flooding of the River Ash and the rise in sewage water in the borough.

He said that protocols established after the floods of 2003 had been set but not followed and that it was possible the floods in February had been a human act, rather than a natural one.

Speaking during the debate on Monday May 12, he said: “The 2003 protocol says clearly that Thames Water, the regulated company, should pump water out of the aqueduct at the Crooked Billet pumping station when that threat exists and if that does not work, sluice gate eight at Moor Lane should be shut.

“That arrangement has been expressly put in place to prevent water from spilling over and putting between 50 and 500 homes at risk of flooding.

“The protocol was clear but in February, for whatever reason, it was not adhered to.”

Information released following requests under the Freedom of Information Act found that the Environment Agency repeatedly asked Thames Water to lower the sluice gate to prevent water flowing from the Staines aqueduct into the River Ash.

Eventually Thames Water sent contractors with heavy equipment to the sluice gate and closed the gate by one metre. Mr Kwarteng said: “As soon as that happened, residents observed that water levels began to recede rapidly. On the morning of Thursday February 13, the floodwater had disappeared.

“If it could be found that there was some human error, or that something or someone prevented the sluice gate from being shut, then the flooding was not a natural act, but a human one.”

In other parts of Spelthorne where homes were destroyed by rising sewage, Mr Kwarteng said the investment that Thames Water and other companies put in to maintain the infrastructure must be investigated.

He said: “I am sure that the nature of Ofwat’s relationship with the water companies will be the subject of many debates, but in September 2013 Thames Water submitted an application to Ofwat to hike its prices by 8% in 2014/15.

“That application was blocked in November last year because the regulator felt that the company had made substantial savings and should be able to use those savings for reinvestment.

“In the event, in a compromise, Thames Water put up its prices by 4.1%.”

He concluded: “I am firmly of the view that the impact of the floods, even though they were a natural event, was exacerbated by a degree of under investment in key infrastructure.”

Responding was Dan Rogerson, parliamentary under-secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, who said he would raise some of the specifics with the agencies involved.

He added that ultimately, investment costs had to be footed by bill-payers through the privatised water industry.